We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

One of the reasons that the costs of medical care services in the US have increased more than twice as much as general consumer prices since 1998 is that a large and increasing share of medical costs are paid by third parties (private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Department of Veterans Affairs, etc.) and only a small and shrinking percentage of health care costs are paid out-of-pocket by consumers.

HYPOCRISY-METER EXPLODES: New York Lyin’ Times Suddenly Appalled by Presidential Overreach

Let's take the first example, "A federal judge said his funding for Obamacare was unconstitutional." U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer in United States House of Representatives v. Burwell ruled against the Obama Administration, but suspended the verdict on appeal. Since then, the plaintiff has put the suit on hold, and therefore spending for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act continue.

I don't think there can be much dispute that Obama was the most lawless president in history. I would hope the large majority of his illegal actions will eventually be negated by the courts, but certainly Trump through executive order should undo as many of Obama's illegal orders and rules as possible.

The problem with acting illegally is it can just be nullified or ignored once he is out of office. And some of his actions just have no consequences, such as Obama's purported ratification of the Paris climate accords. Since he ignored getting Congress' ratification of his action, it was simply null and void and not binding on America or American citizens.

Of course, the question as to some of his actions which affirmatively broke the laws, such as with immigration and releasing terrorists, or engaging in illegal surveillance or targeting Americans through the IRS, leads to the distasteful option of whether Obama at some point should be arrested and tried, and potentially face prison. Perhaps an alternative would be for him to apply for asylum with a country that does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Jim: I don't think there can be much dispute that Obama was the most lawless president in history.

Of course there's a dispute about it. Indeed, we noted that the very first example that was purported to show lawlessness was anything but.

Jim: The problem with acting illegally is it can just be nullified or ignored once he is out of office.

You seem to be conflating legal executive orders with illegal actions. Illegal actions can be negated in the courts regardless of what the next president decides. Legal executive actions can be undone by new executive actions.

Jim: And some of his actions just have no consequences, such as Obama's purported ratification of the Paris climate accords. Since he ignored getting Congress' ratification of his action, it was simply null and void and not binding on America or American citizens.

That is incorrect. An executive order does have legal effects. It's just that an executive order can be countermanded by a new executive order.

Jim: Of course, the question as to some of his actions which affirmatively broke the laws, such as with immigration and releasing terrorists, or engaging in illegal surveillance or targeting Americans through the IRS, leads to the distasteful option of whether Obama at some point should be arrested and tried, and potentially face prison.

There was nothing illegal about the Paris agreement, most of which consists of non-binding goals. However, to repudiate the previous U.S. President's commitments will only serve to undermine the current U.S. President's ability to reach international agreements.

Jim: http://www.torontosun.com/2017/03/18/paris-climate-treaty-dead "While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will never admit it, the 2015 Paris climate treaty Canada signed with great fanfare died last week. It died because of the release of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget plan."

Well, no. A budget plan doesn't mean the end of the Paris Agreement. The only legal obligation is reporting, which is authorized under the UNFCCC treaty which the U.S. Senate ratified in 1992. The balance of the agreement concerns non-binding targets.

Jim: “Regarding the question of climate change ... We’re not spending money on that anymore,” Mulvaney said. “We consider that to be a waste of your money ... ”

The question to which Mulvaney was responding concerned scientific research into climate change. The position of the Trump Administration seems to be that it is better not to know, because if they don't know, they won't be under any obligation to respond.

There is a very large subversive element within the U.S. It is mostly made up of immigrants and children of immigrants. They never assimilated and consider themselves to belong to their own tribe and have no allegiance to America. Thomas Perez is only one of many who lead this charge to open up America to unlimited immigration and a takeover. This all began 50 years ago when Ted Kennedy rammed through legislation that still exists today and it's perverse nature was exposed by the judges in Seattle and Hawaii just this week. That is immigrants and people who have never stepped foot on American soil have the RIGHT to come here and even the president cannot stop it. Once here they have the right to stay and to collect welfare forever. And useful idiots within the U.S. have set a precedent that only white Americans can be racists so everyone coming here immediately has more rights than most Americans in that they can declare you racist and win either in court or in regulation. Don't believe it; look at the sanctuary cities. Most of these cities are run by immigrants or even illegal immigrants and they have large immigrant/illegal immigrant populations. And they want more. Why? Because it is their 'tribe' and a larger tribe gives them more power and more power gives them ultimately YOUR money. This isn't about 'diversity', they don't want diversity they only use that term to get more of their tribe elected and hired. If diversity means that a white teacher or a right leaning teacher should be hired they would reject it and pull out the race card or call you Nazis and fascists. The president of Turkey, Erdogan, showed his cards this week with his comments to Islamic immigrants to Europe with his advice to not just have 3 children but have 5 or 6 or as many as you can so that Islam can take over Europe. He has no personal connection with any of these immigrants, they aren't his family or friends. But they are his tribe. Their success insures his tribes success. This is nothing more than good old fashioned racism; it is the KKK in a burka. This is what the DNC is embracing. This is the inevitable result of unlimited and uncontrolled immigration.

Although I agree with you on the need to assimilate, and the fact that there is no pressure on the immigrants to assimilate, I don't think you can find many of the sanctuary cities that are run by immigrants. Denver, Aurora, and Boulder Colorado, are all sanctuary cities. Boulder and Aurora mayors, are both white. Mayor Hancock is black, and born in Texas (we don't hold that against him). What they have in common, is liberalism, and the desire to change America into something that it was not intended to be.

Notice that the hyphenated American, is always an Americn second. The hyphen is a dividing line, something to keep apart. I'm a mutt. My ancestors came to America from all over the place. Some as far back as the 1750's. I am an American. No hyphen for me.

You are right about many of the sanctuary cities but the La Raza is still there and has the ear of the mayor and city council. Make no mistake the mayor didn't just wake up one day and think how nice it would be to buck federal law. There are under the table deals and promises made to get what they want.

During an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos proclaimed that whites will become a minority within 30 years and that “this is our country”.

Bob Dornan lost his seat in congress to Loretta Sanchez in a proven case of illegal aliens voting. This wasn't a lucky accident of Ms Sanchez it was organized and funded by La Raza. Dornan proved it in court and basically the judge said "so what". La Raza wasn't even chastised and not a single illegal voter went to jail.

I'm sure it won't be long before the tv show, NCIS, has an episode on the nude marines scandal. That show used to be my favorite. Maggie's Farm used to have season recaps; I have not seen those in a few years. The show has become so pc, as to make it unwatchable. The downhill slide started with the departure of Ziva (Cote de Pablo) and lost the best cast member when Michael Weatherly left. Gibbs is just not the same, after his near death experience. I guess none of us would be.

The tweet is right but let's not forget that most of us pick our employer based on things like paid health care and the possibility of having health care in retirement. Most of us pay a substantial sum of money into the Medicare 'trust fund' to pay for our health insurance after age 65. There were many times I considered just doing what I wanted in life and throwing off the chains of a 40 hour a week job but the thought of not having health care kept me working. So one way or another we "paid" for it.

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